A Guide to Writing Bionicle FanFiction
by Magdalan-Saiyan-Toa
Summary: The only guide you will ever need to writing Bionicle fanfiction or your money back!
1. Introduction

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A Guide to Writing Bionicle FanFiction

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The Non-Expert's Guide to Writing Better

Introduction

So, you are planning on writing a Bionicle fanfic. That is great! Well, even if you already have written a Bionicle fanfic, it is still great to get great tips on writing better.

I being one of the veteran authors for more than three years still left around this part, thought it was a good idea to come up with this, _A Guide to Writing Bionicle FanFiction_.

I hope this will help all of our younger authors with writing an even better story. Or help some of the other veterans with some other things. All-in-all, this is a guide that is to help all of those who are willing to read it.

So, what exactly _is_ Bionicle fanfiction, you may ask? Well, Bionicle fanfiction is like other fanfiction, except about Bionicle. Bionicle fanfiction is fiction written by a fanatic about Bionicle. It is illegal to try to pass of fanfiction of a published work as your own anywhere in the world and try to sell it. This of course (for some strange reason) does not apply to Japan, where you can sell your own version of already published work. Some authors, like J. K. Rowling and Meg Cabot, find it flattering that people want to write about the worlds they have created... as long as the author of the fanfic doesn't try to publish it.

Some of you out there may ask, why even bother writing it? It is more than likely never going to be published. True, but it is great practice. And that's why this was created, to help those who want to become published authors of their own series some day with what they need.

When writing this, I used several websites on how to write a good epic, short story, novel, et cetera to help with this very guide, as well as Sue Young's _Writing with Style_. Everyone needs help with writing, even someone writing a guide to help others with their writing.

This guide will help you get a head start on becoming a better author to the next greatest Bionicle fanfic. It will help you deal with pesky reviewers who flame and those sweet reviewers who praise you, as well as the reviewers who offer tips. It will help you with your grammar and spelling. It will also help you to keep creative and be smart about what you write.

Hopefully, this guide will be useful to everyone out there and will not offend anyone, as it is written informally from me (the author) to you (the reader). We are all friends here, at 's Bionicle pages, and I have respect for all of those who respect others.


	2. Chapter 1

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Chapter 1: Characters

When you first start off writing, you need to know who you are writing about. You need to ask yourself: "Who is my main character? What is my main character's background? Where is the story located? What is going to happen through the course of the story?" These are important questions to ask!

-How do you outline a character?

-The perfect character.

-The villain and the antagonist.

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I. Character Outlining

So, who is your main character? Is she a girl that was brought to the Bionicle world by a powerful sorceress-like being? Is he a Toa sent from the future to warn our heroes of a great disaster? Who is this character we should be able to relate to?

What was your character's life before he and/or she met the Toa? Did they have a mom? A dad? No family at all what-so ever? Or did they have a humongous family? How were they treated at home? Were the abused? Loved? Respected? Outcasted by their peers at school? Where did they live?

Is this character on Mata Nui? Metru Nui? Xia? _Earth_? Or some distant land in the Bionicle world we have never heard of?

Does the main character have to save our Toa friends? Or do they have to save him/her? Do they go on an adventure together? Do they have to save the Bionicle world? Does the main character fall in love with their best friend? Does their best friend get kidnapped and they, along with their teammates, must go and saved the closest one to their heart? What is the plot?

Take my fanfic, _The Everbinding Tales_. Ultimately, it was the _worst_ train wreck you have ever seen. But, it was my very first story. My main characters were the Toa Nuva. We know their background as well as we know ourselves (that is, if you are a true and loyal fanatic). The story is on Metru Nui. Through the course of the story, we meet my Toa Jumi (I admit, they are some of the worst). The Toa Jumi are looking for a friend of theirs' who was taken and they believe she is in the Coliseum. Basically, they save their friend and the island and live happily ever after

I tried to make my characters non-Sues, but I believe I failed miserably at that.

It is alright to mess up the first time, but you should slowly and gradually improve of creating a believable character within a believable plot sequence. Remember, humans are complex, so your characters should be too.

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II. Making the Character

This is mainly is you are creating a character to insert in the original plot.

Well, first thing is first, what is your character's name? It is okay not to have a name for a character when first starting off, but you need a character.

I am going to teach you a little exercise I used to use when I first began writing. I still use it but it takes me three seconds to come up with a character.

If you are on a computer (you had better be!), open up Microsoft Word or Notepad. Type "Name:". What is the first name that comes to mind? Type that next to name.

Next, type "Gender:". Is your character male or female?

Type "Species:" (is your character a human, a Toa, a Matoran, a Turaga, a Rahi, et cetera). What do you think your named character is? Type it down.

If your character is human, type "Age:" and then their age, "Hair color:" and their hair color, and "Eye color:" and their eye color.

If your character is a Toa, type "Mask:" and their mask, "Mask power:" and their mask power, "Color:" and their armor color, "Element" and their element, and "Weapon" and their weapon.

The same goes for a Matoran, minus the element and weapon part (unless the said Matoran has a weapon in your story). Matoran bodies are too small to channel any sort of mana, or elemental power, thus not allowing their to use said element.

With Turaga, you may keep the element part, although it is not necessary. We do not know for sure if Tuaraga can wield any elements.

For Rahi, type "Color:" and their color, "Eats:" and what they eat, and "Region:" and where they live.

Next, come up with a bunch of questions about your character (in example, What are their weaknesses? What are their strengths?).

Here's an example the exercise:

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Name: Lionne

Gender: Male

Species: Ko-Matoran

Mask: Kaukau

Color: White and silver

What are their weaknesses?  
He is stubborn and does not know when to stop.

What are their strengths?  
He can predict the future with his tarot cards.

Where do they live?  
He live on Mata Nui is Ko-Koro.

See? Very simple.

Now, why not try this exercise for yourself? It may or may not help you.

But what about they bad guy? The villain?

Did you know there is a difference between a bad guy and a villain? Yes, there is, for you doubters out there.

In Saya Moonshadow's _A Road Not Taken_, Mano, Shay, Siahta, and Malvado were bad guys, not villains. The true villains of the fanfic were the Shadowed One, Shinoda, and Tsuyayaka. If you have never read the fantastic wonder that girl created, then I shun you and suggest you do. If you have, then you know what I am talking about. Saya Moonshadow has explained it well without meaning to.

Bad guys are not quite villains, but they are fully heroes, they are somewhere in between.

If there is one thing I know, it is how to create a villain. Ultimately, that is all I ever create. In my opinion, Teridax is by far the _best_ villain I have seen in a series meant for children.

A villain must be cunning, witty, and deceitful (things I see in Teridax). A villain must be a trickster, like Tamora Pierce's Kyprioth in her _Daughter of the Lioness_ duology (although Kyprioth is stuck a bad guy and a good guy, he has many villainous qualities about him). They should have an air of power and strength about them, the kind that would make you cower and loath them. They should be seemingly flawless, but as we know, they should have many flaws to make them believable.

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III. The Villain vs. The Antagonist

Why would a villain verse himself?

Well, technically an antagonist is not the villain, they are simply the ones going against the protagonist (often portrayed as the hero). If have ever taken a writing or theatrical course, then you know this is true. Your protagonist does not have to be the hero and your antagonist does not have to be the villain.

Let us take the Piraka. Now, everyone hates the Piraka and they hate everyone, so it is fair. But, instead of them being the antagonists, they are now the protagonists (meaning our Toa Inika are now what most would consider the "villains").

To be repetitive, the antagonist is simply someone who opposes the main character, not the villain.

So remember, when you are writing, do not always make your protagonist the hero, it gets old and very dull after, oh, about two thousand years or so.


	3. Chapter 2

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Chapter 2: Get to Know the Slang

Everyone everywhere has slang, even people who write Bionicle fanfiction.

-Fanfic slang.

-Bionicle world slang.

-Tree-/chutespeak

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I. Say what?!

Like I said, we all have slang. But to understand what other Bionicle authors (as well as anyone here and ) mean by certain things, we have to learn the slang. I have managed to rummage around other websites, scraping up whatever fanfiction slang I could find.

This is my list:

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A/A. Action/adventure. Wow, that was a hard one.

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Active fan. AF. A person who gets personally involved within the fan community. (That's like someone saying "Harry Potter sucks!" and the active HP fan will flame their ass. I respect HP, as it is well written, but I am not a fanatic.)

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Adult. The fanfic contains adult sequence that are not appropriate for anyone younger than seventeen/eighteen.

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Age statement. AS. A statement declaring that a person is old enough to legally access adult material.

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Alternate reality. AR. A placement of characters in a completely different fandom. Not to be confused with Alternate Universe.

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Alternate Universe. AU. A fictional setting variant from the original plot line.

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ANC. Annoying new character.

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Angst. A German word meaning torment. Warning: Angst is addictive!

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Angstfic. A fanfic within the genre of angst.

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Anonymouse. An anonymous person.

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Anonymice. Anonymous people.

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Archive. It could mean the Onu-Metru Archives, but it does not. It is a collection of fanfics in one place. All Bionicle works are stored in 's Bionicle archive.

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Avatar. No, not Aang. A character who represents the person who created them. Also, an icon.

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Basherfic. A fic devoted to bashing a character the author does not like. I bash Tahu not because I hate him, but because the two of us are so much alike.

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Beta. To edit or comment someone's work.

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Betareader. Someone who will edit your work for you (like me!).

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"Breaking the fourth wall". When a character talks to the audience. This is seen as annoying and should not be done unless in a comedy.

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Canon. The original. A canon plot is the original plot and a canon character is an original character.

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Challenge. An informal game played in writing circles. "Hey, I challenge you to write about..."

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Challenge fic. The result of a challenge. I believe we have only had one challenge here that way made public. I do not recall who issued the challenge who took it up.

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Character death. The death of one or more original characters.

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Consensual. Refers to sexual situations or relations.

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Constructive criticism. A constructive way of telling someone they suck... What? It can be helpful and useful, as well as rude.

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Crossover. Joining two different fandoms and bringing them together under one plot.

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Crackfic. A debatable fic. A WTF! fic.

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Crackpairing. A ridiculous pairing of two characters who could not be together no matter what is said or done (like Tahu and that Mary Sue you want to pair him with!).

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Darkfic. Involves lots of death, pain and drama.

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Denialfic. AU fic used to prevent or avert tragic events in the original canon (like a story about how Matoro did _not_ die, but indeed lived).

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dldr. Don't like, don't read. Simple, no?

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Deathfic. A story usually written on how characters deal with the death of another.

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Delurking. To actually post a review and stop lurking.

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Dim-smoky-bar-scenario. When a cannon character meets up with a Mary Sue. This is considered annoying to the reader, so please, no typical bar scenes.

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Dino. An old timer, a veteran.

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Disclaimers. None of us own Bionicle (unless you own Lego), so this is generally needed to be placed before or after the chapter of a fanfic. It claims that you neither own the characters or such.

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Drabble. A fanfic of one-hundred words or less. There are such things as double drabbles (but these are rare) and they are two-hundred words or less.

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Ep. Short for episode (though, if you don't know that, you are a complete and total moron).

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Extended Universe. EU. Information taken from one universe and added to another.

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Fan. Short for fanatic. Someone who is really into something and could most certainly be obsessed with it.

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Fanboy. A male fan.

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Fanfic. Short for fanfiction (fan fiction). Fic is the shortest version. A story written by a fan about a movie, game, book, cartoon, et cetera.

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Fanficcer. Someone who writes a fanfic. Most of us prefer to be called an author or a writer, however.

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Fangirl. A female fan.

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Feedback. A comment or review a fanfic.

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Fen. Plural for fan.

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F/F. Female and female, often called yuri.

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Ficathon. A group writing challenge.

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FIJAGDH. Fandom is just a god-damned hobby.

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First time. A couple's first romantic or sexual relationship. Often sweeter than store bought cake frosting.

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Flangst. An odd combination of fluff and angst. It is a must read kind of thing.

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Fluff. A silly but cute story that is often a oneshot. Think hhjj (happy-happy-joy-joy!).

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Gary Stu. The male counterpart of a Mary Sue.

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Glomp. A very, very good thing. When someone glomps you, glomp back. A glomp is a hug so fierce, that if the person being glomps tries to shake off the person glomping them by running around, they still would not let go.

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Hall of Shame. This is the place where most of our earliest work ends up. It is the one place where all the real shitty writing goes and stays for the world to see.

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H/C. Hurt/Comfort. These two are now genres here at . A story often where one character is hurt emotionally and another goes and comforts them.

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HSAU. High school alternate universe. Our canon characters... in high school!

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Huggle. Something between a hug and a cuddle. Very cute and often given to another author as a reward.

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l33t. Leet speak.

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Lay story. The author's original character (more than likely a Mary Sue) gets in the sack with a canon character and they get busy.

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Lemon. A story that contains sexual orientations.

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Lemonade. A cute and fluffy story with a bit of lemon in it (Onua and Lewa fics are best known around here for that).

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Lime. Like a lemon, but when it gets to the sexual part, we "fade to black".

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Mary Sue. The most dreaded of all characters ever to have been created. Originally, she was a very pretty character in a published _Star Trek _novel that got everything she wanted. People started to coin off the name for a female character in a fanfic that was so perfect, it was unbelievable. Most of these need to be burned and destroyed. However, there have been rare cases of good Mary Sues. We all strive to make the best Mary Sues we can... even though we may hate them in the end.

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M/M. Male/Male, often called yaoi.

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MST. No, not my name, but originally Movie Science Theatre. Now, it is constructive flaming.

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n00b. A newbie. Some of you guys are cool and others... not so much. You guys can referred to as fanfic virgins.

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Netiquette. Etiquette through the internet.

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Next Generation. NextGen (never ng). Often the generation of children after the original generation of canon characters.

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NG. Newsgroup.

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Oneshot. A story that could be told in one chapter, often called a short story.

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One True Pairing. A canon that only has one "real" couple.

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Original Character. A non-canon character created by the author of a fanfic.

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Original Female Character. A female character created by the author.

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Original Male Character. A male character created by the author.

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Out of character. A canon character not being themselves.

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Pairing. A couple.

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Point of View. POV. Through whose eyes a story is told. First person, second person, third person omniscient, and third person omnipotent.

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Ratings. A rating is like that of a movie (G, PG, PG-13, et cetera). However, here at , we have different ratings.  
-K equals G.  
-K+ equals PG.  
-T equals PG-13.  
-M equals R.

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Self-insertion. The inserting of one's self into the fanfiction. Often frowned upon by many.

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Shipping. Supporting a pairing (like Zutara for _The Avatar: The Last Airbender_ or TahuGali). The author may feel the two belong together.

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Smut. Porn!

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Songfic. A oneshot with lyrics to a song inserted to help people understand the story better.

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Spoiler. A piece of information that can spoil or ruin the future plot line. Warnings of a spoiler should be inserted.

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TMI. Too much information.

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Top-heavy. No, we are not talking about or my physical features! We are talking about a ridiculously long titles that is not needed.

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Triangle. A love-triangle. Most around here are VakamaNokamaMatau. Very rarely have I seen anything else.

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Unconventional couple. A couple that is fan-promoted (TakuaNixie). One I want to see, personally, is KopekeKotu. Do not know why, but they seem great on paper!

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UST. Unresolved sexual tension. VakamaNokama, more often in the canon.

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Yaoi. Very much popularized around here by Green Devil, notorious for her OnuaLewa, TahuKopaka, PohatuLewa, and JallerTakua. Yaoi is male on male action we all squeal over. A lighter version is known as shounen ai (boy love).

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Yuri. The female equivalent to yaoi. These are quite rare, but there are two that I know of. A lighter version is known as shoujo ai (girl love).

This is the short list. There are a ton of more words out there I was either A.) too tired to add or B.) too lazy to add. You can search for them, though, if you see something that wasn't on the list.

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II. "You could have been lavabones!"

Here's the list of Bionicle need-to-know terms.

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Av. Light.

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Barraki. Warlord.

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Bioquake. Earthquake.

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Biostorm. A destructive storm.

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Brother. Partner, comrade at arms.

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Cordak. Desolation.

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Fe. Iron.

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Foolish as a sand snipe. You're being stupid.

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Ga. Water.

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Hagah. Guardian.

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Hold your rahi. Slow down.

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Hordika. Half-beast.

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Jaga. Tail

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Kanohi. Mask.

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Kanoka. Disk.

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Karda. Core.

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Kini. Temple.

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Ko. Ice.

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Kolhii-head/Akilini-head. Dolt.

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Koro. Village.

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Le. Air.

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Makoki. Key.

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Makuta-/Vahki-/Rahi-/Lava-bones. Good as dead.

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Metru. District.

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Nui. Great.

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Onu. Earth.

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Po. Stone.

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Piraka. Thief.

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Rahi. Animals.

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Rama. Fly.

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Sister. Partner, comrade at arms.

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Suva. Shrine.

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Ta. Fire.

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Toa. Hero.

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Turaga. Elder.

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Valmai. Cursed place.

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Vezon. Double.

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Wahi. Region.

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Zya. Attack.

People often make grammar mistakes when trying to make these words plural. If it does not feel right with an 's', then do not add it. Toa, Matoran, Turaga, Rahi, et cetera, these are all plural and singular words. They are like moose.

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III. Chutes and Trees

Treespeak, sometimes chutespeak, is spoken by those of the air. Their quick-fast way so speak-talking is hard to understand unless done long-slow. It takes time-years of practice to even write-type it! But here is the simple-basic list of words often spoken by air-friends.

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Bad-worse. Even worse.

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Bald-land. Open country.

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Battle-flight. Bird-mounted battle.

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Buzz-flying. Flying with an insect-like drone.

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Bog-foot. Slow.

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Cliff-bound. Trapped on a cliff.

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Cloud-sneaking. Under cover of the clouds.

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Crash-bang. Loud noise.

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Crave-need. Needing something really badly.

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Dark-time. A dangerous or sad time.

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Dark-wet. Dank.

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Dark-serious. Really serious.

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Deep-sleep. A very deep sleep.

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Deep-wood. Deep in the jungle.

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Deep-think. To think about something deeply.

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Down-tree. Lower in the tree or at the base of the tree.

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Ever-quick. Very fast.

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Ever-flee. Flee.

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Far-distance. Distance.

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Fast-chase. Chasing at high speeds.

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Fire-spitter. Ta-Matoran (Often, when used by non-Le or Ta-Matoran, used as an insult to Ta-Matoran).

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Ground-path. - A land-based road or path.

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Happy-cheer. Happy.

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Happy-plan. A good plan.

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Happy-smile. Friendly smile.

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Hard-fall. Fall, a fall from great heights.

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Hard-luck. Ill fortuned.

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High-branch. High in the trees.

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High-flying. Airborne.

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High-jump. Leap.

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High-lifting. Elevating.

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High-tree. Up a tree.

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Jungle-song. The sounds of the birds and beasts of the jungle.

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Know-nothingness. Don't know anything.

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Late-knowing. Ignorant until too late.

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Leaf-dawn. Springtime in the Le-Koro seasonal calendar.

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Leaf-Runner. A swift traveler through the jungle canopy.

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Life-dawn. Youth, young.

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Loud-talk. Talking very loudly.

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Low-duck. Crouch.

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Near-close. Very close.

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Oak-New. Brand new.

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Old-bone. Old, ancient.

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Over-rock. Over the rocks.

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Past-late. Too late.

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Proud-stand. Defend.

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Quick-?. To do something quickly (Ex: Quick-think, quick-pull, quick-leap, et cetera).

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Quick-dodge. Difficult to strike.

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Quick-return. Return fast.

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Quick-soaring. Fast-flying, in the air.

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Quiet-sneak. Sneaking

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Rama. Nui-Rama.

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Rapid-quick. Really fast.

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Sea-bright. The sun is in the sky.

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Sea-Craft. Boat, submarine, et cetera. Any craft that be on or in the water.

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Second. Disk-throwing bird-rider, seated behind the pilot.

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Seek-find. Search for.

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Singsong. A positive term. (Tamaru uses it in _Mata Nui Online Game_ in "singsong Le-Koro").

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Slow-?. To do something slowly (Ex: Slow-think, slow-dodge, et cetera).

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Slow-think. Stupid, dumb.

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Spirit-blessed. Blessed by Mata Nui.

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Sun-soaring. Flying above the treetops.

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Swim-speeding. Swimming quickly.

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Thought-plan. Very well thought out plan.

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Toa-heroes. Toa that are heroes.

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Toa-villains. Toa that are villains.

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Top-leaf. As high as the treetops.

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Tree-bound. Unable to fly.

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Tree-bright. A sentimental term for Le-Koro, seen through the leaves from below with the sun above.

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Tree-launch. Take to the air on bird-back.

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True-shot. Accurate aim.

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Up-tree. Higher in the tree.

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Vines-man. A skilled vine-swinger.

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Water-lady. Ga-Matoran

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Water-maiden. Another term for Ga-Matoran.

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Way-finder. Navigator.

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Wind-rider. Bird-Rider.

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Wind-riding. Flying.

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Wind-sprint. Flying.

Not all the words are accurately "translated". Tree-/chutespeak is quite difficult to understand, even for those who have been tying it for years now.

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Trivia: Stories, comics, and fics written Pre-Metru Nui did not use dashes. When chutespeak was introduced, Farshtey added dashes, baffling some fans. The original published works have not been edited since, so they still do not have the dashes.


	4. Chapter 3

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Chapter 3: Digging In

Now, here comes the hard part, actually writing.

-Right words versus wrong words.

-Inspirations and writer's block.

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I. Write versus Wrong

Finding the correct words to start a Bionicle fanfiction is hard, believe me. So, what is my advice in the attention grabbing starting statements? Write the first thing down that come to mind. Do not erase, change, or cross-out that line. Keep it. It is now the attention grabber.

"But it is not good!"

So, who the hell cares? I sure do not!

Fine, want to see the first paragraph I wrote for my very first Bionicle fanfic (_The Everbinding Tales_)? Here:

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Life. A word we all know and say hundreds of times in out lives. Yet, we do not know

what_ it actually _is_. Even to the Great Spirits of the others worlds, it remains a mystery how they came to existence. For they have asked the trees and flowers, but they remember not. They have asked the Earth and stones, but they recall not. Even the Earth and stones do recall not._

That story was my rise and fall. The beginning was interesting, but it slowly fell about before my eyes. The messy, chaotic story I devoted my first few years of writing to became known amongst the small community (which has grown in the past few years). It made me fall because it made me realize I was not the fantastic author I had wanted to be.

But I have grown and have moved on from that fiery young girl who loved to fight with Tahu. I have grown and I have changed, as we all do. I am wiser and much smarter, and I have much better grammar, thank Mata Nui for that.

I have gone from:

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Life. A word we all know and say hundreds of times in out lives. Yet, we do not know

what_ it actually _is_. Even to the Great Spirits of the others worlds, it remains a mystery how they came to existence. For they have asked the trees and flowers, but they remember not. They have asked the Earth and stones, but they recall not. Even the Earth and stones do recall not._

To:

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"Poor thing," a Matoran muttered, checking the vitals of a being for the last time. "This one's so young, and we have to pull the plug."

So, finding the right words to begin a fantastic story is hard.

I struggled greatly with my newest Bionicle fanfic, _Lost Hope_. I was pulling the hair out of my head and scratching my skull until it was raw and bloody. After about a month of trying to get that damn thing started, I just stopped and took a breather.

I cleaned my room, watched movies, read books. A week later, I came back to writing and just wrote.

When writing this chapter to this guide, I thought, "How the hell am I going to help them get motivated to begin writing?" And that is when it came to me. Just do it.

"Just do it." Sounds like something for a shoe company, probably Nike, but it is a great motivator.

Make a sign that says "Just do it" and post it above your computer, this way, whenever you write, you can smile and write. If you work off a computer at the library, write "Just do it" on a note card. You can color and do whatever the hell you want to it, just as long as you post it above or near the computer you work off. I laugh at it every time I see it.

There are no right or wrong words when you are writing, so long as you "just do it" and enjoy it, people will love to read it.

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II. Blocking the Block

I, too, struggle with writing. Finding the right inspiration does not take much when getting started, but it does take a lot to keep it.

My advice: Avoid writer's blocks.

What is a writer's block? It is the inability to begin or continue writing . Often caused by the lack of inspiration or creativity. Caused by depression and anxiety (both of which are oddly inspiring to me) in the frontal lobe of your brain. Can be caused by politics or unwillingness to confront past problems.

How do you do that? Stay inspired.

Here is where you groan. Staying inspired was the hard part.

But here is something you probably did not know, even published authors get a writer's block. They need inspiration, too!

So, how do you avoid a writer's block? You can not. Sometimes it is a blessing that they come. Heck, I had a writer's block for this chapter!

Well, here is that just in case list of what you could do in case you have one of those dreaded blocks.

-Stop writing for a while and come back to it later. A few hours to a week is often what the doctor calls for.

-Listen to music. You can just sit in your room and listen to it or you can listen to it while you write. Music stimulates that creative part in our brain that helps us to be more imaginative when writing.

-Walk your dog... or cat.

-Watch a movie or ten.

-Begin another fanfic. Having several stories going on at once may seem confusing, but, hey, I am working on nine different things right now and do I seem confused? Now, do not begin nine different things to be like me, start just one other if you are just beginning. For others... well, start two more.

-Schedule yourself. It is hard, I will admit, but it does help. I find that I work best under pressure.

-Create mental exercises.

-Create an idea book. An idea book is a book full of ideas, names, places, songs, et cetera you have seen or heard or thought of. It is very useful.

-Ask fans. Asking a fan what he or she thinks will happen next does help, although I, personally, have yet to try it. Kino Lady of the Divine often asks me.

-Read frequently and read a variety of things. I am currently reading books by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes.

-Hang out with friends.

-Eat. I have found I work better, not only under pressure, but also with a full belly.

-Clean your room.

-One word: Karaoke.

-Catch up with your family. You would be surprised that you are not the only one struggling.

-Make a list of things you have to do.

-Do your laundry.

-Write a poem. I do not know why, but a poem seems to help.

-Cook food, whether it be for yourself, friends, or family it keeps the mind surprisingly creative and active.

-Go Christmas shopping... even in January, it is never too early to get that person you did not get a gift for last year a gift this year!

-Create witty titles for a possible story.

-Take a dance class.

-Make funny faces in the mirror.

-Go to 7-11 for a late night snack.

-Talk to your roommate(s). Quality bonding time is effective.

-Create a playlist for the story.

Well, you could do pretty much _anything_ to slay the Kanohi dragon blocking your way to success, but remember, you are not alone. Okay, that is a creepy line, but everyone gets a writer's block.

So, how did _I_ deal with my writer's block for this chapter? Well, I went shopping for underclothing, watched a few movies, went to band practice, and danced it off. It felt good to work those dusty gears of mine again. I know you will feel good too, after a break.


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